TOP Analysis, Prognoses and News about Greek - Albanian Relations and the Region.

Saturday, January 3, 2015

Greece's Upcoming Election Just Got More More ComplicatedReuters

James Mackenzie, Reuters

REUTERS/Jose Manuel RibeiroSocialist
International (SI) President and Greece's former Prime Minister George
Papandreou delivers the opening speech at the SI Council meeting in
Cascais February 4, 2013.

Greece's former Prime Minister George PapandreouREUTERS/Jose Manuel RibeiroSocialist International (SI) President and Greece's former Prime Minister George Papandreou delivers the opening speech at the SI Council meeting in Cascais February 4, 2013.

ATHENS (Reuters) - Former Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou announced the creation of a new political party on Friday, confirming a long-expected split from the center-left PASOK and complicating the potential outcome of this month's national election.

The new party, dubbed "Movement for Change", has yet to detail policies but they are expected to be similar to those of PASOK, part of the ruling coalition led by Prime Minister Antonis Samaras's center-right New Democracy.

"It's time for the next big step of the progressive forces in the country," Papandreou, the son of one of Greece's most prominent political dynasties, said in a post on his Facebook page. "It's time to build, together, a new political home that will house our progressive values, the values ​​that unite us."

The latest arrival on an already confused political scene comes just over three weeks before the Jan. 25 election called after lawmakers failed to elect a president last month. The result is set to be close with the leftwing anti-bailout party Syriza holding a slim lead.

Papandreou, whose father Andreas founded PASOK, was prime minister when the euro zone crisis broke but was ousted in 2011 over a botched effort to hold a national referendum on Greece's international bailout.

He said his new party will be launched on Saturday.

PASOK accused Papandreou of betraying his father's name by engineering an "unethical" split only weeks before an election, motivated by personal ambition rather than any real political disagreement.

PASOK dominated Greek politics for 40 years but now commands less than 5 percent support, according to the latest opinion poll.

Papandreou has spent much of his time outside Greece since being ousted and has been largely sidelined within PASOK by Evangelos Venizelos, the burly foreign minister who is number two in the Samaras government.

A split could take PASOK below the 3 percent threshold needed to hold seats in parliament and there is no guarantee that "Movement for Change" could gain seats either. But its arrival could also draw support away from Syriza and New Democracy, neither of which may be able to govern alone.

"Papandreou's party is a huge question now," said Costas Panagopoulos of pollsters ALCO, adding that much would depend on the policy platform the party adopts and whether voters associated Papandreou with the heyday of the old PASOK or with its recent decline.

"We are talking about a historic name, a prime minister who won elections with over 40 percent of the vote and we're also talking about the government at the time of the collapse."

Syriza, which wants to renegotiate Greece's international bailout deal and write off a large part of its debt, has seen its lead over New Democracy narrow over the past few weeks to just 3 points.

Related Stories

A left-wing extremist from the Greek militant group November 17 has been re-arrested after almost a year on the run, police say.

Christodoulos Xiros, 56, went missing last January after being allowed to visit his family.Convicted in 2003, he was serving life sentences for bombings and shootings.While on the loose, Xiros had appeared in a video threatening
armed action over austerity measures undertaken under Greece's
international bailout.

Xiros appeared in a video last year criticising austerity and threatening violence

He was recaptured on Saturday in the coastal town of Anavyssos, south-east of Athens. Police gave no further details.Photos released by Greek police show him with a beard and his hair grown long and dyed blonde. November 17 emerged in the mid-1970s and claimed a series of
deadly attacks against foreign diplomats and Greek politicians and
businessmen over nearly three decades, killing at least 23 people.Greece, which has a huge foreign debt, has gone through years of austerity programmes mandated by the IMF-EU bailout.The country is due to hold a snap election on 25 January. The
left-wing Syriza party - which wants the terms of the EU-IMF bailout
renegotiated - is leading in opinion polls.

Friday, January 2, 2015

"15,000 Serbian citizens sought asylum in Bavaria"

Source: Tanjug

BERLIN -- Some 15,000 citizens of Serbia have sought
asylum in Bavaria alone in the first 11 months of 2014, the German
daily Welt writes.

(Beta, file)

The same article said that the state last year accepted 32,000 asylum seekers, twice as many as in 2013.
It
is further noted that they came not only from war-torn regions, but
that one third was from the former Yugoslavia area and Albania, while
"their real number could be higher," Deutsche Welle reported.

More than 70 percent of those who arrived as asylum seekers in Upper
Bavaria by December 28 - about 1,400 people - came from the Western
Balkans, a spokesman for the local government said.

Bavarian
Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann (CSU) was quoted as saying that they
should be quickly sent back to their homes, "because there is no civil
war there."

The German daily noted that he recently said there was no reason for "people from Belgrade" to be seeking asylum in Bavaria.

The daily noted that after their applications have been refused asylum
seekers from the former Yugoslavia and Albania "try again," and that "60
percent of such requests came from citizens of these South-East
European countries."

Thursday, January 1, 2015

The Himara Community of Albania, declared as the "Person of the Year 2014" Father Kosmas Karavellas, The President of the Himara Society in Washington, USA.

Father Karavellas, during 2014, together with other members of the Society Himara, has been very active in US politics in State Department, Congress and the Senate, to protect the rights and freedoms of People of Himara.

The year 2014 marked a series of coordinated actions by Himara Society in collaboration with the Himara Community in Greece and Albania, to internationalized human rights violations in the Himara Region, by the Albanian authorities.

It is to assess the fact that, for the first time, a group of Congressmen from the USA, visited Albania, supported by great efforts of the Father Kosmas and other members of the Himara Society of USA, in October of 2014.

Despite all the achievements, the year 2015, for the entire Diaspora of Himara, will be more consolidated to fight for the rights and freedoms of Himara Region, especially in the matter of ownership, local management and cultural ethnic identity, for which the Albanian state, violated several times, the Constitution of the country to the people of Himara.

Greece’s political crisis

Samaras’s failed gamble

The prime minister
looks likely to lose a snap Greek election later this month, but it is
not clear what government will succeed him

Jan 3rd 2015
| ATHENS

ANTONIS SAMARAS, the centre-right Greek prime minister, lost one
election on December 29th. Now he will have to fight another. His New
Democracy party’s candidate for president, Stavros Dimas, fell 12 votes
short of the required three-fifths majority in a third and final ballot
by Greece’s 300 MPs. As the constitution demands, a snap general
election will now be held on January 25th. ND is trailing the far-left
Syriza opposition, according to the opinion polls. Once again, the prime
minister’s chances of victory look slim.

Mr Samaras made two television appeals for lawmakers to back Mr
Dimas, a former European environment commissioner, for the ceremonial
post. His election would have kept the fragile ND-led coalition in power
long enough to negotiate an exit from Greece’s unpopular austerity
programme with the European Union and IMF, including a precautionary
credit line from the euro-zone bail-out fund. Many independent and
opposition lawmakers who rejected Mr Dimas are unlikely to be
re-elected, yet not even self-interest persuaded them to back the
government.
Such stubbornness heralds a bad-tempered election campaign. Alexis
Tsipras, Syriza’s radical leader, calls Mr Samaras “finished”. He plans
to renegotiate Greece’s bail-out. Although he no longer threatens to
halt debt repayments unilaterally if his party comes to power, he still
wants to secure a big write-off. Greece’s creditors would oppose that,
and also Mr Tsipras’s proposals to reverse other reforms and launch a
€11 billion ($13 billion) welfare package, to be financed by better tax
collection. With more than €7 billion of lending suspended until Athens
reaches agreement with its “troika” of creditors on more tax, labour and
pension reforms, Greece will soon run into trouble. Hard-pressed
taxpayers are already struggling; more than €1 billion of income and
property tax goes uncollected every month. Mr Tsipras’s promises sound
alluring to angry, impoverished Greek voters.
Yet some left-wingers are suspicious. “How can Greece dictate terms
to the troika when they control the purse-strings?” asks Lefteris
Maniatakis, a former employee of the state electricity company. “Over
the past four years we’ve seen every government resist their demands at
first, but give in eventually.”

Mr Samaras hopes to shrink and perhaps reverse Syriza’s lead over the
course of the campaign. He can cite a modest recovery, with GDP growth
likely to reach 0.6-0.8% in 2014 thanks to a successful summer tourist
season, improved exports and increased EU subsidies for infrastructure
projects. Another tactic will be to stress the risks posed by a hawkish
but inexperienced left-wing Syriza-led government. Greek shipowners,
worried they could be hit by a new wealth tax, are already pulling
deposits out of local banks. Small savers could follow their example,
fearing a repetition of the 2013 bail-in of depositors in Cyprus.
Even if Syriza wins on January 25th, it may fall short of an overall
majority. Mr Tsipras speaks of a government with Syriza as its “core”.
At least four small parties are likely to win more than 3% of the vote
and enter parliament, but only the PanHellenic Socialist Movement
(Pasok) and To Potami (The River), a new centre-left party led by
Stavros Theodorakis, a television journalist, look like possible
coalition partners. Mr Tsipras is used to making alliances: he has to
keep his own party’s disruptive far-left faction on board. Even so, it
could be hard for Syriza to work with either Pasok, which has been ND’s
junior coalition partner for two-and-a-half years, or a cocky newcomer
like Mr Theodorakis.

In 2012 an inconclusive election was followed by another a month
later. This time, the deadlines are tighter: a two-month extension to
Greece’s bail-out expires at the end of February, increasing the
pressure on the election winner to form a government fast. Greece’s
latest political flare-up might yet turn into another extended crisis.

"Public to soon learn about KLA crimes"

Source: Blic, Tanjug

BELGRADE -- War Crimes Prosecutor Vladimir Vukcevic
says the public will "soon be informed" about the crimes committed
against Serbs by the ethnic Albanian KLA.

(Beta, file)

The public will also learn "about all the investigated crimes against Serbs in the former Yugoslavia," he added.
"The main problem is the lack of access to witnesses and
suspects who are in the territory of Kosovo and Metohija, up to 90
percent of them. When somebody is arrested on our warrants abroad, they
are not delivered to Belgrade, but to Pristina," Vukcevic told the New
Year edition of the Belgrade-based daily Blic.

Asked "when the
investigations will be opened," Vukcevic said he is "still working on
the Strpci case," and that "events in Srebrenica and crimes in Kosovo
and Metohija are investigated."

"The investigation into the
murder of Albanian prisoners in Dubrava has advanced far, but we have
had to stop. I was looking for an expansion of capacities, but this was
not done, so the cases are significantly slowed. We need more people. In
Bosnia-Herzegovina 100 work for (the prosecution), while here there are
five deputy prosecutors, two advisors, as well as four investigators,"
said Vukcevic.

The prosecutor believes that he has "failed to do a lot."

"I'm sorry that due to a lack of capacity we were not able to do more
in the 'Media-hate-speech' case. Complaints were made against us that we
protected persons from the army and the police, in higher command
positions. That's not true," the prosecutor said.

"It was
legally possible only when the Hague tribunal stopped the investigation
against them, we started to criminally prosecute them, and then the
attacks against us started," he was quoted as saying.

"Hungary to get one million new citizens"

Source: Beta

BUDAPEST -- By the end of the mandate of the current
government, one million more people will be given Hungarian
citizenship, Zsolt Semjen has said.

Semjen serves as deputy prime minister in charge of Hungary's national policy.He
said that the number of citizenship applications would reach 700,000 by
the end of this year, while the number of "oaths taken" will reach
650,000, the Beta agency said, quoting a report that appeared on the
"Vojvodina Today" Hungarian language website.

Semjen added that
the criteria for granting citizenship would not be made more stringent,
"except possibly for minor corrections."

The official also
said there had been "fewer abuses than could have been expected," while,
according to him, reports about the abuses of the process "sometimes
originate from secret services of the countries that do not like the
fact many Hungarians live in their territory who have managed to bounce
back from a semi-assimilated state."

Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Alarming situation in Himara Region, residents without electricity for several days

The situation has become unbearable, residents left Himara and go to Greece, due to the lack of lights

Total irresponsibility of the energy system, KESH, an institution that is managed by the Albanian State

Christmas and New Year, going through without electricity, in a situation between the cold and bad weather.

Himara. With hundreds of people, have left their homes and heading to the Greek border, hoping to pass new year night, tyre.qe close family members living in Greece, mainly in Athens.

Cause were frequent interruptions of electricity in recent months, for which they say are regular payers of energy, but the state does not care to build investment in Himara Region.

The Situation has been particularly volatile last days of the year, when the weather has deteriorated enough electricity cuts were made for days, increasing uncertainty over property and homes in all Himara Region ..

But nobody cares, nor the Albanian Government, Power Corporation, nor the media, while seems to Himara, is being held a hostile attitude in continuity, because its people rejected the Albanian government, in some aspects affecting the country's Constitution such as property and Territorial division.

The issue becomes even more complicated, while policies in Greece, which in many cases has intervened in matters affecting the Himara Region with Albania, is heading towards a composition of the new government, which will lead the country to political elections at the end of January 2015.

Italy Sends Helicopters to Check on Migrant Ship

Italian authorities sent two helicopters Tuesday to meet a cargo ship
believed to be carrying hundreds of migrants after a passenger sent a
distress call earlier when the ship was off Greece.

The operation came two days after a Greek-operated ferry caught fire
between Greece and Italy with the loss of at least 11 lives, prompting a
two-day search and rescue effort.

Italian air force spokesman Capt. Stefano Testa said the
Moldovan-flagged Blue Sky M freighter was about 20 miles (30 kilometers)
off Santa Maria di Leuca, on the southernmost tip of the "heel" of
boot-shaped Italy.

Port officials in Bari said the teams were landing on the ship as a
precaution to see if there were any problems on board and ensure the
situation was under control.

Earlier, Greek authorities scrambled a navy frigate and helicopter after
a man who said he was a passenger called emergency services when the
ship was off Corfu, saying hundreds of migrants were on board and needed
water, food and blankets.

A Greek coast guard official said the helicopter located the ship within
Italian waters, and its captain said the vessel wasn't in distress and
didn't require assistance.

Italian authorities were notified, and the cargo ship continued on its
own toward Italy, the official said on condition of anonymity because he
wasn't authorized to speak on the record.

Tens of thousands of migrants and refugees, most fleeing conflict or poverty in the Middle East, Africa and Asia, attempt to reach the European Union each year, most heading by sea to Italy or Greece.

On Sunday, the Norman Atlantic passenger ferry caught fire in the same
area. Authorities rescued more than 400 people, and are still searching
for potential missing passengers from the vessel.

Renzi calls Tirana: The "Norman Atlantic" to be send to Italy for inquiring by Italian Prosecutor

Renzi: 'Europe must enlarge or miss an opportunity'

30 December 2014

Tirana, December 30 - Premier Matteo Renzi said
Tuesday in the Albanian capital that the European Union must
take on new members.
"Either Europe enlarges or it misses an opportunity," Renzi
said.

Declaring himself the "first sponsor" of Albanian EU
membership, Renzi added that "when anyone questions Albania and
the other Balkan countries joining the EU, they are getting
everything wrong".
Speaking during a visit to Tirana climaxing the end of
Italy's duty EU presidency, Renzi underlined that "we need this
area to be not just a part but the heart of the EU in the face
of the challenges that await us".

"We want to change our countries so that they are ever more
capable of building the European ideal," Renzi said during a
press conference with Albanian counterpart Edi Rama.

Asked for the tragedy on the Adriatic Sea on issue "Norman Atlantic", Italian PM Renzi calls the Albanian authorities to back the Italian Prosecutor, to sent The "Norman Atlantic" not in Vlora Gulf, but in Brindisi.

Related Stories

Two Albanian seamen have been killed on a tugboat while towing the fire-stricken Norman Atlantic ferry.

Both men died after being hit by a connecting cable between the vessels on Tuesday, Albanian officials say.
At least 10 people were killed and more than 400 were rescued, after fire broke out on the ferry in stormy seas.
It is unclear how many passengers are still missing. Rescue
helicopters have been diverted after another ship sent a distress signal
nearby.
A cargo ship carrying several hundred people near the Greek
island of Corfu appealed for help late on Tuesday morning, according to
Greek media.
The rescue helicopters and a naval frigate have gone to a
Moldovan-flagged ship, Blue Sky M, which was believed to be carrying
migrants just south of the island of Othonoi, north-west of Corfu,
reports said.
Unconfirmed reports suggested armed people were on board the vessel bound for Croatia, according to Greek state TV.Still searching
Italian authorities said they were continuing to search the
ferry Norman Atlantic. They have been unable to verify the precise
number of people originally on board.
The operator said 478 people had been on the ferry when it
left the Greek port of Patras for Ancona in Italy, but Italy's final
tally following the rescue comes to only 437, including those who died.

Prosecutor Giuseppe Volpe told reporters in the Italian port of
Bari that it was likely that other victims would be found on the
wrecked ship because a number of those rescued had not been on the
passenger list.
Italian Transport Minister Maurizio Lupi said on Monday that a
definitive figure could not be given because of errors on the passenger
list, no-shows at boarding or people getting off on a stopover at the
Greek port city of Igoumenitsa. Snapped cable
An Albanian port authority official in Vlore told Reuters news agency that the two seamen had been hit by the broken cable.
"One man died on the spot when one cable broke after it got
stuck in the propeller," the official said. "The other died on board a
few minutes ago when being assisted by a helicopter medical team."
The BBC's James Reynolds in the Italian port of Brindisi says
that Tuesday's tugboat accident underlines the many difficulties faced
in this recovery operation.

The Italian coast guard is carrying out a review of the passengers to try and work out who is still missing

Monday's rescue operation was conducted amid considerable danger and panic.
As passengers tried to escape from the flames by going on to
the deck, they were confronted with freezing cold rain and huge waves
while heat from the fire below scalded their feet.
Survivors described scenes of people fighting to get to
lifeboat slots and into helicopter baskets. Those rescued have
complained that the crew seemed overwhelmed by events.
Some witnesses said that there had been no fire alarms or knocks at the door from the crew to rouse sleeping passengers.

Migrant ship' heads for Italy after distress call scare

Related Stories

A
cargo ship believed to be carrying hundreds of migrants is heading for
Italy after a passenger sparked an alert near the Greek island of Corfu.

The distress call to Greek emergency services prompted the navy to send a helicopter and a warship to the scene.
But later the coastguard said the captain of the Blue Sky M had been contacted and no-one was in danger.
The incident came two days after a fire broke out on a ferry not far away, leaving at least 10 people dead.
Resources were diverted to the cargo ship from the ongoing search near the wreck of the ferry, Norman Atlantic.
Greek coast guard special missions officers were also seen
leaving Corfu for the area, just to the south-west of the small island
of Othonoi.

Abrupt turn
The Moldovan-flagged Blue Sky M was reportedly heading for the port of Rijeka in Croatia.
But according to tracking website MarineTraffic, the ship abruptly changed direction south of Othonoi on Tuesday morning, heading west towards Italy.
The passenger on board the Blue Sky M had reportedly phoned
the Greek 112 emergency line, complaining "we are without water, food
and blankets".
Unconfirmed reports also referred to armed men being on
board, however the ship's captain later said no assistance was being
sought.
Weather conditions in the Ionian sea have been poor for
several days, hampering the rescue of those on board the Norman
Atlantic.

The Greek Prime Minister, Antonis Samaras, received the outgoing President of the Hellenic Republic, Karolos Papoulias, at his office earlier today in order to agree on the current Parliament’s dissolution, ahead of the upcoming snap general elections, that according to the Greek Constitution must follow the Parliament’s failure to elect a new Greek President.

“The big moment has arrived.” This was the phrase Mr. Papoulias welcomed Mr. Samaras with, adding that he hopes “everything will go well.” On his behalf the Greek Premier, underlined once again that the Greek people did not want elections. “They are unnecessary. They are the result of partisan self-interest,” “when it comes to the security and stability of the nation, the battle is about truth and responsibility. In this battle, it is not the political parties that come first, but the nation, particularly as Greece’s remainder in Europe is at stake.”

It should be noted that the Greek Premier officially requested from the President, the dissolution of the Parliament as soon as possible and the elections to be held on Sunday, January 25. Within the day, Mr. Papoulias is expected to issue a presidential decree ordering the Parliament’s dissolution and approving the given date as the date the next general elections will be held. In addition, within the first days of the new cabinet a new Presidential election should be held for the successor of Mr. Papoulias.

Mr. Samaras is expected to meet with New Democracy’s executive committee very shortly- See more at: http://greece.greekreporter.com/2014/12/30/greek-president-papoulias-to-pm-samaras-the-big-moment-has-arrived-video/#sthash.R7Qz4cld.dpuf

Putin is no genius, says Obama

AFP
is quoting the U.S. president as saying in an interview broadcast on
Monday that "Putin had convinced many in Washington that he was a genius
for his lightning-quick annexation of the Crimean peninsula and
invasion of areas of eastern Ukraine."
"But the U.S.
administration's non-aggressive response, while frustrating hawkish
Republicans in Congress who advocated more forceful intervention, paid
dividends in the long run, with sanctions now biting into the limping
Russian economy," the French agency reported Obama as saying.

"I said at the time we don't want war with Russia, but we can apply
steady (sanctions) pressure working with our European partners," Obama
told NPR during the interview recorded on December 19.

"And
today, I'd sense that at least outside of Russia, maybe some people are
thinking what Putin did wasn't so smart. Part of our rationale in this
process was that the only thing keeping that economy afloat was the
price of oil," Obama said, and added:

Steady sanctions pressure
"would make the economy of Russia sufficiently vulnerable that if and
when there were (oil price) disruptions... that they'd have enormous
difficulty managing it".

Blue Sky ΜA “Blue Sky” cargo ship with a Moldova flag, carrying aproximately 600 illegal migrants has sent a distress signal from west of Corfu, through the European frequency 112.

There are initial unconfirmed reports in Greek news, that there are armed men aboard. The Italian coast guard immediately alerted Greek authorities about the incident and a Sikorsky helicopter of the Hellenic Navy along with the frigate “Navarino” which was in the area due to investigations regarding Norman Atlantic, are expected to arrive near the ship shortly.

According to the Hellenic Navy, the ship is located southwest of the Othonoi, a small island northwest of Corfu. The Port Authority of Corfu chairman, Spiros Andriotis noted that the extreme weather conditions are preventing the port of Corfu from sending boats to tow the ship back to safety.

Just two days ago, a ferry carrying around 400 people, many of which were Greeks traveling to Italy, caught on fire. The ship was located near Corfu but in Italian waters. At the moment, 8 people have lost their lives in the ferry fire and another 40 are missing.- See more at: http://greece.greekreporter.com/2014/12/30/migrant-ship-with-hundreds-aboard-in-distress-near-greek-island-of-corfu/#sthash.Xi1CNAjj.dpuf

related:

National Security of Greece, Ionian and Adriatic sea, outside the border control

The closing of the naval base in Corfu, as a result of cuts in the Greek army, brought catastrophe.........................

Monday, December 29, 2014

Ferry Passengers Recount Chaos: No Fire Alarm, Just Smoke

BARI,
Italy — There were no fire alarms at first, no knocks on the door from
the crew, just thick, acrid smoke filling cabins and waking passengers
on the overnight ferry from Greece to Italy.

In
the chaos that followed, passengers sought safety from the flames on
deck, only to be doused by cold rain and water hoses while heat from the
fire below burned their feet.

Pushing and shoving broke out, and passengers came to blows over coveted slots on lifeboats and helicopter baskets.

"Everyone
there was trampling on each other to get onto the helicopter," Greek
truck driver Christos Perlis told The Associated Press by telephone from
one of the rescue vessels summoned after the Italian-flagged ferry
caught fire off Albania early Sunday.

"The
jungle law prevailed," said Greek passenger Irene Varsioti. "There was
no queue or order. No respect was shown for children."

Italian
and Greek helicopter rescue crews Monday evacuated the last of the
known survivors aboard the vessel, bringing the number rescued to 427.

But
the death toll climbed to at least 10, and the search in the Adriatic
Sea continued amid serious discrepancies in the ship's manifest, which
contained 478 names.

"We cannot say how many people may be missing," Transport Minister Maurizio Lupi said at an evening news conference.

Italian
officials said the names on the manifest may have represented just
reservations, not actual passengers who boarded. Also, Italian navy Adm.
Giovanni Pettorino said 80 of those rescued weren't on the list at all,
giving credence to suggestions from the Italian premier that the ferry
may have been carrying a number of illegal migrants trying to reach
Italy.

The
blaze broke out on the car deck of the Norman Atlantic while the ferry
was traveling from the Greek port of Patras to Ancona in Italy. The
cause of the fire was under investigation.

The
Italian military congratulated itself for a remarkable around-the-clock
rescue operation in horrendous weather: 40 knot (75 kph; 46 mph) winds,
high seas, choking smoke and the dark of the Adriatic night.

Hundreds
of passengers, crew members and two dogs were plucked from the
rain-soaked ferry decks in helicopter baskets as the fire blazed below.

Some
suffered hypothermia, others mild carbon monoxide poisoning, but the
first big group to reach land — 49 people who came ashore in Bari just
after dawn Monday — walked off their rescue ship on their own, exhausted
and draped in blankets to ward off the cold.

Navy
Adm. Giuseppe De Giorgi hailed the Italian ferry captain, Argilio
Giacomazzi, for having stayed on board to see the evacuation through, in
striking contrast to the skipper in Italy's last maritime disaster.
Capt. Francesco Schettino is on trial on charges of manslaughter and
leaving the ship early in the 2012 wreck of the Costa Concordia, in
which 32 people were killed.

"As
an old seaman, I offer my deferential salute to the ship captain for
having done his job with great dignity and competence," De Giorgi said.
"He was last off, as a captain should be."

Giacomazzi's daughter, Giulia, said her father was "very precise and very careful" about his work.

"The classic story of the sea," she told AP from the family's home in La Spezia. "The captain is the last to leave the ship."

Despite
the praise, passengers said the scene aboard the ship was chaos, with
virtually no direction coming from the mostly Italian crew. Several said
that they knew to get out of their cabins only because other passengers
banged on their doors or because they couldn't breathe from the smoke.

"There
was no alarm — this was the absolute tragedy," Dimitra Theodossiou, a
Greek soprano, told Italy's La Repubblica. "They didn't knock. They
didn't advise us. We woke from smoke that entered in the room."

Perlis,
the Greek truck driver, described the rescue scene as "a chaos, a
panic," hampered by passengers whose feet were burning from the fire
underneath them. "And from the feet up we were soaked," he said.

When rescue helicopters arrived, Perlis said, passengers began to clamber for position.

"First
children, then women and then men. But the men, they started hitting us
so they could get on first. They didn't take into consideration the
women or the children, nothing," Perlis said. He said he reached safety
after jumping in a helicopter basket carrying a girl.

British
show-jumper Nick Channing-Williams told Sky News that he heard an alarm
at 5 a.m. — well after the flames were under way. Passengers said that
eventually an order went out for passengers to get their life vests and
come to the upper decks.

"When we got out on deck, the flames were huge and all the cars were on fire," he said.

"The
fire was basically cooking everybody's feet. ... People just panicked,"
he added. "When the flames are licking up the side of the boat and
there's no sign of help ... you do feel somewhat helpless."

A
Turkish passenger, Aylin Akamac, told the state-run Anadolu Agency: "We
were soaked from the water they doused to extinguish the fire. Our feet
froze. People were forced to move closer to the fire to keep warm. We
waited outside for hours."

Late
Monday, Italy's transport ministry sequestered the ferry, saying
Italian and Albanian authorities would decide which port to bring it to
amid dueling jurisdictions over any criminal or civil liability for the
disaster.

Ferry survivors tell horrifying tale

Fire broke out early Sunday morning as ferry traveled from Greece to Italy

(CNN) -- Eight people have now been confirmed dead
after a ferry caught fire in the Adriatic Sea on Sunday, Italy's
minister of transport said on Twitter on Monday.

Minister Maurizio Lupi retweeted a post from local media putting the death toll at eight, with 427 rescued.

The Italian coast guard
earlier said that all remaining passengers had been evacuated from the
vessel, with the boat's commander finally leaving the ship at 2:50 p.m.
Monday. The coast guard told CNN it was inspecting the ship and deciding
how to transport it -- and where.

Route of the Norman Atlantic

Burning ferry passengers arrive in Italy

Ferry catches fire between Greece, Italy

More than 400 passengers
had been traveling on the Norman Atlantic between the Greek port of
Igoumenitsa and the Italian port of Ancona when the blaze broke out in
the ferry's parking bay.

In the first three hours
of the fire, around 150 people were able to escape via the vessel's
lifeboats. But when the ferry lost power, the electronic arms were
unable to function, leaving the rest of the boats dangling uselessly by
its side.

Rescue efforts were
hampered by strong winds, choppy seas and thick smoke, which prevented
other boats from getting close enough to the vessel to get people off.

After waiting for hours
in rough conditions, one Greek man told Italian state broadcaster RAI TV
that passengers were "dying of cold and suffocating from the smoke,"
and that their feet were "burning" from the heat of the flames.

Helicopters with night vision equipment worked through the night to pull passengers off the ferry, one by one.

An Italian navy medical
team boarded the ship to aid passengers, some of whom had been suffering
hypothermia and smoke inhalation, the navy said. The already cold
conditions were worsened by the spray from tugboat hoses as authorities
attempted to douse the flames.

By Monday afternoon, the
Italian navy said 419 people had been rescued, with the country's coast
guard later confirming that no passengers remained on board.

One man died after he jumped or fell into the cold water, authorities said. It is unclear how the other four victims died.

Hundreds trapped on a burning ferry

First images from inside burning ferry

Hundreds aboard ferry burning in Adriatic

Dramatic cell phone
images filmed by a passenger showed flames through shattered portholes,
while a wider view released by rescuers showed a huge plume of thick,
black smoke streaming from the stricken vessel.

Many passengers were
unable to reach the lower decks because of the heat, and the water below
was so cold that jumping clear of the ferry was not an option.

Sea surface temperatures
had been around 14 to 15 degrees Celsius (57 to 59 degrees Fahrenheit),
CNN meteorologist Tom Sater said, which would have limited the survival
time in the water to six hours at most.

Passengers told Greek and Italian newsgroups they had felt like "prisoners on a burning ship."

It's not known how the
fire started, but it's believed to have originated in the parking bay. A
truck driver told the Greek news media that trucks filled with oil were
"packed like sardines," their cargo scraping the ceiling, which could
have set off sparks in rough seas to start a fire, he surmised.

Greek authorities said the vessel's fire doors appeared to have failed, which allowed the flames to spread quickly.

The disaster made
national headlines in Greece, Italy and other countries with citizens
aboard the ferry. In a Sunday morning public address, Pope Francis
offered "affection and prayers" to those affected by the Norman Atlantic
ferry fire as well as a collision in the Adriatic Sea between two
merchant ships.

Greece was plunged into a renewed political crisis on Monday after
parliament failed to elect a head of state, setting the stage for snap
polls tipped to bring radical leftists to power.
Athens’s 300-seat house voted by 168-132 in favour of Stavros Dimas, a
former European commissioner and the sole candidate for the post,
becoming president, but he had been required to win 180 ballots.
“The number of 168 votes is a clear parliamentary majority but as the
constitution foresees it does not allow my election,” he said. “What is
important, now, is the interests of the country and the Greek people …
what unites us is Greece.”
Under Greek law the parliament now has to be dissolved within 10 days
and elections called within 30. The prime minister, Antonis Samaras,
whose conservative-dominated two-party alliance has been in office since
June 2012, said he would seek elections as soon as possible. “Tomorrow I
will go to the president of the republic to request snap polls as early
as possible on 25 January,” he said. “It is the hour of democracy,
which means truth and responsibility, not populism.”
Five years into Greece’s worst economic crisis in decades, the
stridently anti-austerity Syriza party is leading polls and likely to
win. The leftists have declared that renegotiation of the accords Athens
has signed with the EU, ECB and IMF – the bodies that have kept it
afloat to the tune of €240bn – will be among its top priorities. It will
also seek to write off the country’s monumental €320bn debt – ambitions
that have revived fears of Greece colliding with creditors and being
ejected from the eurozone.
Following the vote, Syriza’s leader, Alexis Tsipras, told reporters the country had experienced “a historic day”.
“In a few days the Samaras government, which pillaged the country,
will belong to the past, as will the memoranda of austerity,” he said of
the bailout accords. “The future has already begun. You should be
optimistic and happy.”
The roll-call vote took place in a sombre atmosphere, eclipsed by the tragedy
on board a ferry in the Adriatic where rescue efforts were at that
point continuing almost 24 hours after the vessel caught fire.
Christos Pappas, the imprisoned second-in-command of the neo-Nazi
Golden Dawn party, was the first to announce that he would not be voting
for the government’s candidate. Independent MPs, whom Samaras had hoped
to sway in this, the final round of a three-stage vote, followed suit.
As it became clear that deputies were unlikely to reach the 180-vote
threshold, the Athens stock exchange nosedived. By the ballot’s close it
had shed more than 10% in an indication of investors’ concerns over the
turmoil that is likely to hit Greece, which has been bailed out twice,
once elections take place.
Stony-faced lawmakers looked on as Golden Dawn MPs, accentuating the
deep political divisions now plaguing Greece, screamed at Samaras: “We
will see you in prison.” The prime minister immediately called a cabinet
meeting for 2pm local time to decide on government strategy in the
coming days. Emerging from parliament, he said: “We did whatever we
could for a president to be elected by today’s parliament and to avert
early elections which hold serious dangers and which the majority of
Greeks do not want … unfortunately a minority of 132 parliamentarians
are dragging the country to snap polls.”

National Security of Greece, Ionian and Adriatic sea, outside the border control

The closing of the naval base in Corfu, as a result of cuts in the Greek army, brought catastrophe

Intervention by the Greek side, should have happen that when the alarm SOS, is claimed

Italian media, accusing Greece: not provide any assistance

The tragedy of the Ferry Boat "Norman Atlantic", brings strong debates on National Security issues of Greece, for which, lot of accusations and reasons against Greek politics, include for the its maritime border in the northern Ionian and Adriatic Sea.

Greece has been unable to interfere with rescue forces in emergency cases, such as by air and by sea, as the Greek Naval Base, is concentrated in the Port of Salaminas in Pireas.

It is for this reason that military experts, accusing the new strategy of the Greek Army, which has canceled the construction of Naval Base in Corfu, designed even before the 15 years, to protect the northern borders with Albania, especially marine waters.

The Ferry Boat tragedy of "Norman Atlantic" brings all the reasons why the Greek forces, can not intervene in time, to neutralize the fire inside to the ship. The ship has begun SOS signal in the Greek waters of the Ionian sea, while the operation has started only afternoon, by the intervention of Italian military helicopters in Albanian national waters.

Reduction of the Greek naval capability in the region of Corfu, and cancel the construction of the base, at last 15 year, has resulted in increasing traffic clandestine drug and arms at the border with Albania, a NATO member country, with poor control of its borders with Greece.

It is also a Reason else weakening control or Adriatic Ionian sea, a load of Greek naval forces, have allowed the Turkish Army, to control the Albanian ports, through its submarine,, according to (Defencenet.gr).... the Greek media reports, in e special edition.

However, the Italian media, Il Sole 24, accused Greece, which should have intervened in time since the morning in its territorial waters, to be given SOS.

While the Albanian side, despite her modesty participation, took part in the action, sending a Coast Guard ship ..

Albanian tug tows stricken car ferry towards port

VLORE, AlbaniaSun Dec 28, 2014

Dec 28 (Reuters) - An Albanian tugboat was
preparing to fix a line and tow the stricken car ferry that
caught fire off the coast of Greece earlier on Sunday, an
official in the port of Vlore said on Sunday.Luan Kore, the chief of tugboats at the Albanian port said a
tug from Vlore was preparing to tow the Norman Atlantic to
Albania's main port of Durres, where it was already being driven
by strong winds.

A second more powerful tugboat would be also help tow it
part of the way, Kore said.The Norman Atlantic, an Italian-flagged car ferry chartered
by Greek operator ANEK Lines, raised the alarm in the early
hours of Sunday after fire broke out in its lower decks.An international rescue operation involving ships and
aircraft from Greece, Italy and Albania has battled heavy seas
and strong winds to try to evacuate the 478 passengers and crew
and is preparing to work through the night.
(Reporting by Benet Koleka; Editing by Alison Williams)

Dramatic appeal by a passenger of Norman Atlantic: ‘We can’t breathe, the ship is tilting!

First entry: 28 December 2014

A passenger on the burning Norman Atlantic ferry described the agony felt by many who remain on the ship as darkness fell over the Adriatic Sea.
Speaking to Greek state television NERIT he said that helicopters have stopped flying.
‘We are about to sink…We are unable to breathe due to smoke. The boat is tilting’, he said.

The Greek
public doesn`t want a new adventure, Prime Minister Antonis Samaras
warned Saturday as he sought to stave off a snap election by urging
lawmakers to choose a new president in a third and final round of
voting."The Greek people do
not want early elections, they want the current parliament to elect a
new President of the Republic", Samaras said in the pre-recorded
interview broadcast by state TV channel NERIT.
“I did
everything in my power to ensure that a new President of the Republic
will be elected and to avoid early elections, because this is in the
national interest”, the Greek prime minister said.
“The election of a new President will help the country to overcome recession”, he added.
However,
Antonis Samaras said that “if we go on early elections, New Democracy
(ND), senior government coalition partner, will win the elections. I can
feel that".
Antonis Samaras, referring to Syriza and Independent
Greeks (ANEL), called them “deadly enemies”, accusing them for
“dangerous plans”, that “will bring about conflict between Greece and
our allies abroad”.
"All those who incite such dangerous plans they are either stupid, or they are serving other interests”, he added, stressing that “refusing to elect new President of the Republic is political blackmail”.

28.12.14 Analysts for Change Back To The U.S.S.R.? Russia's Year Of Probing NATO

A Norwegian F-16 jet fighter (left) tracks a Russian Tupolev Tu-95 strategic bomber earlier this year. In 2014, there was a marked increase in the number of times NATO aircraft intercepted Russian planes probing alliance defenses.

By Charles Recknagel

December 26, 2014

It has almost happened twice: a Russian military aircraft spying on a Western country turns off its transponder to avoid commercial radar and nearly collides with a passenger jet.

The most recent time was December 13 over Sweden. The time before that was March 3 over the Baltic Sea southeast of Copenhagen.

Both incidents are the result of Russia's probing Western defense capabilities in 2014 at a level not seen since the Cold War era. Russian planes have also flown up to and crossed Western states' borders and closely overflown Western naval ships to test NATO's response times and strategies.

"A lot of this is training in as close to a combat environment as you can get, particularly for the Russian Air Force," says Thomas Frear, a researcher at the European Leadership Network, a London-based think tank.

He says that over the course of 2014, NATO states have intercepted Russian aircraft probing alliance defenses more than 100 times. That is three times the number of intercepts in 2013.

The probes come as both NATO and Russia have heightened their military preparedness over the Ukraine military crisis and both sides seek to gather more intelligence about the other.

Russia has stepped up its military activities in the Baltic region while, at the same time, NATO has bolstered the capability of member states Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia to resist any intimidation from Moscow.

The NATO initiatives include increased air patrols and reinforcement of naval task forces in the Baltic Sea region. Those, along with exercises in the Black Sea, constitute the largest mobilization of NATO forces on its eastern flank since the Central and Eastern European states entered the alliance.

Meanwhile, Russia has conducted major exercises for units in its Western and Southern Military Districts, including in areas bordering Ukraine. Western countries and NATO have called those exercises attempts to intimidate Kyiv at the same time that Moscow has sent soldiers and weapons to help pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.

The majority of the increased Russian probing of Western states' defenses has focused on the Baltic Sea region. But there have also been incidents along the U.S. and Canadian borders.

Those include Russian strategic bombers in international waters off Canada practicing cruise missile strikes on the United States in early September. And in May, Russian military aircraft approached to within 50 miles of the Californian coast, the closest approach since the Cold War.

'A Very Dangerous Game'

The more aggressive Russian probing carries a risk of dangerously escalating current tensions between the West and Moscow beyond the Ukraine crisis itself.

"The fact that it is being used in such a provocative way with a little bit of brinkmanship, getting close to borders or even crossing borders, that's of course a very dangerous game," says Marc Finaud, a senior adviser at the Geneva Center for Security Policy in Switzerland.

Frear notes that if a reconnaissance plane were to collide with a commercial flight as almost happened in December and March, NATO countries would be obliged by public opinion to pre-empt by force any future probes that could pose similar dangers. That, in turn, could lead to the downing of a Russian plane and create the conditions for a direct conflict.

Asked about the practice in his annual end-of-year news conference, Putin was defiant -- and placed the blame squarely on the United States.

"At the beginning of the 1990s, Russia fully abandoned the Soviet practice of sending our strategic air forces on patrol flights to remote regions. We stopped it altogether," Putin said.

"The American strategic flights with nuclear arms though kept going on. What for? Against whom? Whom have they been threatening? We kept refraining from flying year in and year out and we only renewed these flights two or three years ago. So who's the one provoking? Surely not us."

Adding to worries is the fact that the NATO-Russia Council -- the mechanism which NATO and Moscow created to deal with just such tensions -- has barely met since the Ukraine crisis began. Both sides have stopped cooperating to show their displeasure with the other.

That's a different pattern from crises during the Cold War, but not one that makes the world feel safer.

"The Cold War, for all its dangers, did have an element of predictability," Frear notes. "In a lot of respects, there was cooperation and a wider understanding of the rules of the game. [Those rules] just aren't in place now."

"War in Europe Again? Not in Our Names!"

Two weeks ago, as the S&P was preparing to surge on the latest round of all time high market-goosing algo trickery by
the FOMC, 60 prominent German personalities from the realms of
politics, economics, culture and the media were less concerned with blinking red and
green stock quotes and were focused on something far more serious to the
future of the world: the threat of war with Russia.In a letter published by Germany’s Die Zeit, numerous famous and respected Germans including a former president and former prime minister write “Wieder Krieg in Europa? Nicht in unserem Namen!”, or, roughly translated, “War in Europe Again? Not in Our Names!“The open letter to the German government, parliament, and media, excerpted here,
was signed by more than 60 prominent German personalities and published
in the weekly Die Zeit on Dec. 5. The initiators were Horst Teltschik
(CDU), advisor to then-Chancellor Helmut Kohl at the time German of
reunification; Walther Stützle (SPD), former Secretary of State for the
Ministry of Defense; and Antje Vollmer (Greens), former Bundestag Vice
President. Teltschik said, in motivating the appeal, “We are giving a
political signal that the justified criticism of Russia’s Ukraine policy
should not wipe out all the progress that we have made in the past 25
years in relations with Russia.”

Below is an excerpted translation (source) of the original letter found here.Nobody wants war. But North America, the
European Union, and Russia are inevitably driving towards war if they
do not finally halt the disastrous spiral of threats and
counter-threats. All Europeans, including Russia, are jointly
responsible for peace and security. Only those who do not lose sight of
this goal can avoid fatal actions.

The Ukraine conflict shows that the quest for power and domination has not been overcome. In
1990, at the end of the Cold War, we all hoped that it would be. But
the success of the détente policy and the peaceful revolutions allowed
people to become lethargic and careless. In both East and West. The
Americans, Europeans, and Russians all lost, as their guiding principle,
the idea of permanently banishing war from their relationship.
Otherwise it is impossible to explain either the West’s eastward
expansion without simultaneously deepening cooperation with Moscow—a
policy which Russia sees as a threat—or Putin’s annexation of Crimea in
violation of international law. At this moment of great danger for the
continent, Germany has a special responsibility for the maintenance of
peace. Without the will for reconciliation of the people of Russia,
without the foresight of Mikhail Gorbachov, without the support of our
Western allies, and without the prudent action by the then-Federal
government, the division of Europe would not have been overcome. To
allow German unification to evolve peacefully was a great gesture,
shaped by the wisdom of the victorious powers. It was a decision of
historic proportions. Once the division of Europe was
overcome, permanent peace and security, from Vancouver to Vladivostok,
should have developed, as had been agreed by all the 35 heads of state
and government of the OSCE member states in November 1990, in the
“Charter of Paris for a New Europe.”. . . This goal of postwar policy
has not been achieved to this day. People in Europe are forced to live
in fear once again. We, the undersigned, appeal to the Federal Government of Germany to
assume its responsibility for peace in Europe. We need a new policy of
détente in Europe. This is only possible on the basis of equal security
for all and mutually respected partners. The German government is not
pursuing a go-it-alone policy, as long as it continues to call, during
this stalemate, for calm and dialogue with Russia. The need of the
Russians for security is as legitimate as is that of the Germans, the
Poles, the Baltic States, and the Ukrainians. We must also not push Russia out of
Europe…. Since the Congress of Vienna in 1814, Russia has been a
recognized global player in Europe. All who have tried to change that
have failed violently, the last being the megalomaniacal Germany of
Hitler, which set out in 1941 to murderously subjugate Russia. We call upon the members of the German Bundestag,
delegated by the people as their political representatives, to deal
appropriately with the seriousness of the situation. . . . Whoever
is constructing a bogeyman, putting the blame on only one side, is
exacerbating tensions, when the signals should be for de-escalation.We appeal to the media, to more
scrupulously adhere to their obligation to provide unbiased reporting
than they have hitherto done. Editorialists and leading
commentators are demonizing entire nations, without fully taking their
histories into account. Any journalist experienced in foreign affairs
would understand the Russians’ fear, since members of NATO in 2008
invited Georgia and Ukraine to join the Alliance. It is not about Putin. Heads of state come and go. What is at stake is Europe. On October 3, 1990, the Day of German
Reunification, Federal President Richard von Weizäcker said: “The Cold
War has been overcome, and freedom and democracy will soon be in place
in all countries. . . . This is a challenge. We can achieve it, but we
can also fail. We are facing the clear alternative to unite Europe or
fall back again into painful historical examples of nationalist
conflicts in Europe.” Until the Ukraine conflict, we here in
Europe thought we were on the right track. Today, a quarter of a century
later, Richard von Weizäcker’s warning is more apropos than ever. * * * The full list of signatories:

The Panepirotic Federation of America vehemently condemns the brutal destruction by Albanian authorities on August 26 of a Greek Orthodox Church in the Chimara region of the former Communist nation that once prohibited all forms of religious worship. The Church of St. Athanasius in the town of Drymades, known in Albanian as Dhermi, was completely destroyed by government agents acting on the authority of Albania’s Interior Ministry.

Petitioning European Council

The land in Himara belongs to the people of Himara! Land and property registration NOW! Signe now this petition to the European Councile, for the registration of properties to the only and single eligible owner: the PEOPLE of Himara.

Himara Community of USA, Addresses Himarra Property Issues with US State Department / Ambassador

The Honorable John F. Kerry Secretary of State U.S. Department of State Dear Mr. Secretary: We are writing to inform you of issues affecting United States citizens who have vested interests in the municipality of Himarra, Albania, and to express our concern about their long outstanding and unresolved problems regarding property rights. Over 1500 US citizens of Himarrioton descent are disenfranchised of their rights to the ownership of their family properties which were confiscated in 1945 by the communist regime. They have been attempting to claim their family properties since the end of the communist period without success due to the laws and policies of the Albanian government which a) fail to address ownership rights of pre-1945 landowners, b) fail to address the rights of owners who were forced to emigrate to the United States for economic or political reasons, and c) fail to address the rights of those with dual citizenship who have attempted to claim their properties as Albanian citizens.

Opinion - Kisha Autoqefale dhe Greqia! (14 tetor 2013)

DEBAT NE OPINION TV KLAN

Welcome to Mapmart

Mapmart

Gogle Traslator

Total Pageviews

Officially: Omonoia, In Albania over 300.000 Greeks declared

30 % or 86,000, are declared electronically and this process includes 85 % of the members of the Greek minority Vlora Prefecture is the mostly populated by Greeks, there are about 90. 000 Greeks. TIRANA - Democratic Union of the Greek Ethnic Minority, Omonoia publishes the results of the census of members of the Ethnic Greek Community, organized by it structures. The Prime Census, was the decision of the General Council of the organization as members argued for exclusion of the Greek minority in the months Census October 2011, organized by the Institute of Statistics .

The history of elections of the Albanian dictator, to terrorize the people of Himara

A special Edition by SManalysis December 2, 1945: The Himariotes, abstaining from communist referendum, as happens usually for Himara the Albanian historians, never wrote this tragic history. Nikos Koutoulas, who boldly told the special communist court: "I'm Greek . I do not know Albanian, get me a interpret!" Still now, Albania never hold free politic elections, including Himara Municipality

Albanian Writer Raises Storm in Kosovo

Kosovo officials have rounded on Albanian writer Fatos Lubonja for saying that the political elites in both countries turned a blind eye to the crimes of the Kosovo Liberation Army, KLA. Besar Likmeta BIRN Tirana Albanian writer Fatos Lubonja In the article published in the May edition of the magazine Sudosteuropa, Lubonja focused on the reaction of Albania’s political class to the acquittal of the former KLA commander and Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj by the Hague Tribunal. Lubonja wrote that following Haradinaj’s release, the elite in Pristina and Tirana celebrated him as a hero, despite having enough information that the charges brought by prosecutors in the Hague were correct.

As long as human rights and civil liberties are violated in Himara Region primarily property, Greec

Himara Associations: Athens to block the status of Albania, if Tirana, does not solve the property issue Two associations based in Himara, "The Himara Community" and "Sea Coastal Association" have asked in a statement distributed to the media this afternoon that Greece "should block the candidate status for Albania" if Tirana, will not solve the problems of Human Rights and particularly the issue of the properties in Himara Region. The statement takes into consideration the visit Tirana following day of E.Venizelos the Greek Deputy Prime Minister also heads the Presidency of the European :

Albania minorities object to territorial division

Albania's civil society is calling on officials to diffuse tensions and protect minorities from discrimination and potential violence as a result of the decision to scrap the existing municipalities and create a new territorial administration. The government reduced the 384 local government units to 65, effectively creating entirely Albanian-majority municipalities. Greek, Macedonian and other minority representatives said the government's move violates their rights and international norms.

Poll: Albania, the most racist country in Europe

An international survey data from the World Value Survey collected and processed by the Washington Post reveals that Albania is the most racist country in Europe and worldwide more racists. The survey attempts to make a connection between economic development and being tolerant inside a society with ethnic crashes.. Thus, the most tolerant countries in the world are the Nordic countries, Great Britain and some of its former colonies, the United States, Canada and Australia. Countries with high tolerance are also in Latin America, where Venezuela exception.

Fatos Lobonja: Albania needs formatting not to rebirth

Fatos Lobonja, in an interview for the program "PULS" the KohaVision in Kosovo, there appeared criticism of developments in Albania. According Lubonja Albanians as a society still can not be consolidated. The reasons, according to him, are corrupt Albanian political elites on all sides, inside and abroad. He said they did not thirst for power leaves organize and move forward. Edi Rama's arrival at the head of government, according Lubonja, will not change the image of Albania, because Rama is associated with the oligarchs and organized crime. " He should answer that elite and non-citizens of Albania ", Lobonja estimates.

Nicholas Gage: Athens to give soon the Greek citizenship for thousand north epiriotes

World Council delegation of Epirus Abroad, meeting with the Ministry of Interior for the vote of northern epiriotes and the resolve the pension problem The visit of Nicholas Gage, is considering as the latest diplomatic effort of USA lobbing, for implementation of the "Protocol of Corfu" agreement, between Albania and Greece, based on the ulterior escalation in Balkan region. The Delegation of the World Council of Foreign Relation of Epirus (PSIE) headed by the Honorary President Nicolas Gkatzogianni, had a working meeting with the Greek Interior minister Stylianidis and v/ minister Syrigos.

Himariotes, lobbying in USA, for Autonomy

A group of people of Himara, with American citizenship, are lobbying to the US Congress and the State Department, that the Himara Region, receive the right for autonomy, according to international historical right to his self-determination. Proposed to merge all associations operating in USA, Greece and Albania, to be united in a single purpose: Autonomous Himara, Movements in the Balkans geopolitical, Mitrovica case, cutting pension from Greece, scarce public investment, robbery and illegal registration of property, etc., have raised a great concern, as never in the recent relationship of Himara, Albanian and Greek state relationship.

Pyrros Dimas, meeting with the Greek Minister of Labour, for problem of pensions to the Northern Ep

- Initiative of MP of PASOK, Pyrros Dimas for preparing and drafting a legislative proposal in collaboration with representatives of the Northern Epirus organizations. - The Minister agreed on the need to find a solution and urged the Member to develop concrete proposals, and that after consultation with the Secretary of the New Republic, Manolis Kefaloyiannis will be submitted jointly to the Minister of Finance.

"Kakome Case" again to the Albanian Tribunals

The Greek Community continues to "constant war" with the Albanian government to protect property. The apathy of Athens, to respond to the robbery of the properties in just the time, that OSCE, under the process of the registration of property in Ionian Coast, from European taxpayers, without any trasparence, is favoring according to Albanian law, alienation of property, of the Greek community , with the false documents.

Berisha: albanophobia threatens inter region

Berisha: "We must accept that they are the only people who live in 5 states. A nation that is unjustly divided into 5 states, a nation that wants to look to a common future. But again albanophobia is still in action " Albanian Prime Minister for the second time, threatening Greece, claiming that Albanians in Greece, should join the Albanian state.

NORTHERN EPIRUS THROUGH THE CENTURIES(LECTURE OF VASILIOS KYRANIS, Harvard University -1981) AL

Christos Pappas, in an interview with Arthur Zhei, News 24 TV

Pappas: "Northern Epirus is a region that holds arbitrary from Albania, as recognized by the great powers, the Protocol of Corfu. The Law of War against Albania, can not remove from Papoulias nor Greek parliament, but the Greek army is ready to liberate the Northern Epirus, again

Search This Blog

After a life threatening message to Archbishop Janullatos

42 Orthodox clergy against census and Red & Black Alliance: Janullatos has not afraid of death 42 Tirana archdiocese Orthodox clergy have reacted with a joint statement in defense of Anastasios Yannoulatos. Their attitude comes after strong reactions against the Red & Black Alliance, for Archbishop and after a census that sees Orthodox in third place in terms of religion in the country.

Albania: 100 years, Berisha plays 'great Albania' trump card

In Tirana Albanian leaders, tensions with Macedonia 28 November, 10:49 (ANSAmed) - TIRANA, NOVEMBER 28 - Albania's black and red national flag with a double-headed eagle is waving across the country which is celebrating today its 100th anniversary of independence in a tense political climate. The centre-right Premier Sali Berisha has been calling for days for an ethnic-national unification of all Albanians living in different Balkan states, in efforts to revive a strong nationalism which is rejected by Albania's opposition.

The Official Site of The Himara Community

CONTINUES THE DEBATE IN WASHINGTON D.C. FOR THE PROPERTY RIGHTS OF AMERICAN CITIZENS FROM NORTHERN

According to the Greek organisation of Albania estimates there are thousands of Greek American citizens from Northern Epirus (Southern Albania) which is refering the Journalist Lambros Papantoniou, asking the Spokesman of State Department for the rights of American citizens with Greek origin to take their properties in Southern Albania. Papantoniou is refereeing a Memo between Albanian State and USA about the civil rights especially for the properties of American citizens who are interested to take them according to Albanian Constitution and laws the properties of family generation. This is the second debate of the veteran Journalist for Balkan Issues in State Department Lambros Papantoiou who accuses over all the Sali Berisha Regim in Albania supported by the President Bush.

A Response to AFP

SManalysis Orthodox churches of Albania, are Byzantine churches, belong to the property of the population of Epirus.....

Avramopoulos`s speach during NATO meeting

Greece threatens Albania blocking the integration process after Berisha's statements Greek Foreign Minister Dimitris Avramopoulos, has expressed his concern at the NATO ministerial meeting about rising tide of nationalism in Albania and premature declarations of the government. In a press release the Greek Foreign Ministry said that "the growth of nationalism and populism in some of our neighboring countries is a source of great concern."

The U.S. talk of "change of borders in the Balkans"

Message-warning sent to Albania by the U.S. representative to the State Department, which in a statement said that any change of borders in the Balkans "would be counterproductive and destabilizing," but the issue is that for the first time put the U.S. even and negative mood on any change of borders in the Balkans ...

INUK në Vlorë, pronarët: Me dokumenta të rregullta dhe leje ndërtimi

ENIKOS.GR

GREEK NEWS FROM NIKO`S BLOG

PREMIUM, THE GREEK TRASFORMATION

The "Kissinger Plan": Confederations Macedonia, Epirus, Thrache,

THE BIG CHANGE IN PERIVOLO, DRYMADES, HIMARA REGION

Dhermi, (Drymades, Himara Region) between natural beauty and destruction Look at those videos, before in 2010, everything natural and in 2012 the differences, the big changes how are divided Mafia plots, see whose investments are shown, with the camera of a sportsman parachute, in Long Beach "Perivolo" in Dhrymades, the Himara Region. Look at how this summer 2012, the Concessions of Mafia provided by The Himara Counsil Municipality and the Government of Albania, have become a reality. The Sand Beach Drymades, is transformed in the sidewalks and kiosks. See how they are transformed Dhermi, in a few years, in an administrative center, disrupting also balance the religious and ethnic composition of himariotes.

Robert Elsie: If I would live in Albania, it would be crazy. It is the same as in Ottoman times

After known albanolog Milan Shufla, Robert Elsie is the best conteproranean albanian albanolog in the World During his intereweu on "Top Channely TV, Robert Elsie, on his first interview on TV. expresed his story about Albanian and Albanian state in 100 years. An interesting tale scholar known for his work difficulties in view of the Albanian language. Elsie, who knows Albanians for years, amounts to a chilling conclusion. He says he will not ever live in Albania, as it will go mad. "I can not live here. It's a little wild for me, the relationships between people are a bit wild. I know that is just a facade that inside have good spirit, but have a rabies in human relations. You know how to protect yourself here, and here I am like a rabbit, he can not defend myself. I come here with pleasure, but do not believe they can afford to come and live here forever. There is much frustration of everyday life. Life is too short and I do not have time to bump into obstacles, only to achieve something, when in another country and get away and then live my life, "said Elsie to Albanian. And while Enver Hoxha's Albania as compared with that of Sali Berisha, adds: "There is something that depends only on the party, it's more the attitude of the people. So to get something going, you have to know someone in the Ministry, to drink coffee with, then drink coffee again next week with even a third time, and then he connects with the person that you are interested . That is the same as in Ottoman times, not like a normal country. ".

Separatists gaining ground in Europe

Greece, is going to Plan B: grant for 600 thousand Greek citizenship, at the Consulates

Failure of the Census in Albania, apparently, has forced Athens, put in place, going to Plan B to its foreign policy, grant citizenship to all Hellenic Community of Northern Epirus (Greek passports) through three Greek consulates in Albania. According to “The Albanian newspaper Gazeta Shqiptare”, in a statement issued by the Greek Consul in Argjirokaster, Nikolaos Kotroxois, will begin soon, giving the Greek passports to Albanian citizens of Greek descent, who have applied for years. The decision is taken, after Athens, has used all diplomatic sources to have to Tirana, the same wavelength, particularly in geopolitical matters, particularly Kosovo. In his statement, the Greek Foreign Minister Stavros Dimas, noted, that Tirana, continues to show towards Greece, feeling not sincere cooperation, while simultaneously calling for the right to self-determination of the Greek community in Albania.

BERISHA: GREATER ALBANIA, WE LOST TERRITORIES

he Albanian Prime Minister held a meeting with Prishtina University students, in which he argued why he is against the unification of Albania with Kosovo and why both countries would lose, if borders would be changed. “The vital interest of the Albanians is to preserve the current borders, and the Albanians should not accept, at any cost, to lose a single square meter of the land they are entitled to. Another redraw of the borders would mark undeserved losses of the Albanian territories. We must be patient, free, and should not undertake any action that threatens territorial losses. Every generation has to make its duty, and this generation made it”, Berisha declared.

Dimas:"The Greek ethnic Community in Albania has the right of free of charge self-determination"

The reliability of the results of population census in Albania, in terms of minority groups, directly challenging the foreign minister Stavros Dimas, diaminyontas same time that the Respect for human and minority rights is … crucial criterion for the progress of the accession method of our neighbor. In a letter sent to the Home in response to a question from a Member of LA.OS K. Aivaliotis, Dimas says that “the foreign ministry has closely followed all the developments surrounding the census in Albania, even though produced timely plays, both bilateral and European level to make sure the integrity process and unimpeded registration of members of the Greek National Minority, and each location of residence of such ». As outlined, the “Selection of the representatives of the main minority groups, including the Greek National Minority, invite their members to abstain in protest not guaranteed to respect the right of free of charge self-determination, showed a significant deficit of trust minority in the Albanian state, which ought to itself the Albanian government to address priority ».

The Constitutional Court Decision on December 1, the Latter abolished the term Ethnic certificate of Its Citizens. In the Decision, panels argues why the notion of "nationality" is incompatible with the constitution When Its state charter law does not provid a clear definition of Its meaning. In Assessing the Court, "nationality" as defined concept without, unlike Other components of civil law does not Create a link that 'translates the Mutual rights and duties of Natural Persons and state.

While the total population in Himara Municipality, does not exceed 12 thousand inhabitants, a source from the prosecution of Vlora, shows that the problems of ownership at the squirrels region have reached the 7500 court proceedings and special investigations, which marks a world record, by how a country like Albania, could not manage the right of ownership, in one of the areas attacked by the Albanian mafia and international. However, the U.S. Department Report for 2004 on human rights in Albania, states clearly that in the Himara Municipality, the community lands and the Orthodox Church, was robbed by a Courts with false documents, supported by the Office of Propetry Registration in Albania.

Arben Puto: Albania has declared war against Greece first

In his book "The Italian Greek War", Arben Puto, well known historian of the era of dictatorship in Albania, writes that: "In a unanimous decision of the Albanian Parliament on July 15, 1940, was ratified, the Italian Fascist royal decree, which declared all war allies France and Britain, including the USA and Greece. So need to Albanians, to be aware that Greece was not declared war Albania, but Albania, with military battalions that attacked Greece on 28 October 1940 ".

WB returns to Ionian Riviera residence reconstruction

Another World Bank project is being executed with the help of the Albanian authorities for the reconstruction of the residences in Albania’s southern coastline. The 625.000 USD project aims to protect and promote the values of the Albanian national architecture in the Southern part of the country, in order to prevent destruction and abandonment of the traditional houses. “Shqip” newspapers says that the Ministry of Public Works is the WB partner in the “Roofs and Facades” project. The implementation of the program has started in the villages classified as participators: Dhermi i Vjeter, Qeparo i Vjeter, Ilias, Vuno, Himare e Vjeter, Piqeras, Nivice and Luksht. The World Bank will finance 70% of the restauration cost, with a maximum of 7000 USD, while the program “Accommodation and Breakfast” will finance 50 of the restoration cost, with a maximum of 5,000 USD. The program “Roofs and Facades” aims to restore 72 houses in 18 months. 20 of them will adopt with the conditions of modern life, in the framework of the program “Accommodation and Breakfast”.

In Albania, at 20 years post-dictatorship, 8 thousands murders, for the issue of property

The shocking data, are given by the Prosecutor General, to the Albanian press Shocking facts which, in the wake of Albania rank Civil War, the high level of killings, including the year 1997 Through the Albanian press, Attorney General, has published shocking facts about the increasing number of murders in Albania, especially for issues of ownership. Clic on photo ....

Himara 26 centuries, a history of glorious Independence

HIMARA, THE NEXT MONTE CARLO`S IN EPIRUS

First step to Greater Albania: Kosovo Opens First Highway Section

A 38 kilometre-tranche of the road, which will eventually cross the country from the Albanian to Serbian border, was opened on Saturday. The first section, which runs from Vermica on the Albanian border to close to the town of Suhareka, cost 330 million euro. Senior Kosovo and Albania government officials were present at the inauguration ceremony. In a speech, Kosovo’s President Atifete Jahjaga said that the "highway has the role of linking nations and countries". "It is our link with important European corridors. Our coordinated policy will make us a free and equal members of the European Union," she added. Named the "Ibrahim Rugova Highway", after Kosovo's most famous president, the road connects with Albania's first highway, which was also built by the Turkish-American consortium Bechtel-Enka.

George Goro: Registration of properties on the southern coast of Albania faces difficulties

The process of registration of property in southern coastal areas of Albania is getting quite difficult. Mayor George Himara Goro says it has so far only completed the registration of houses and land but not land. Problems with documentation and the implementation of the Land Law difficult, according to him, residents in this process.

The Monument of Independence of Albania, is in hassle

PDIU Cam Community Party, the Socialist Party's local leader in Vlora, and "Red & Black Alliance", are making a nationalistic competition, the Monument of Independence and the Albanian national flag. Few days ago, Prime Minister Sali Berisha, said the establishment of a new monument to the independence of Albania in Tirana, implying, dismiss the historical tradition of Albanian independence in Vlora.

Himarrioton Society of America

The Himarriotans of America, motivated by the love of Himarra, the land of their native origin, and dedicated to the noblest ideals of their forfathers, have established this organization which aspires to the cultivation and preservation of Himarriotic culture in America, to making a positive difference in the lives of its members, and to promoting the rights and interests of the Himarriotans in Himarra, through the realization of patriotic, charitable, philanthropic, educational and cultural endeavors.

Opinion in Kosovo: "Socialists in Albania, are filo Greek"

The Chairman of the Opposition in Albania, Edi Rama, accused by the press in Kosovo that "he is with filo Greek sentiments" If, Sali Berisha, Albania's current prime minister, is expected both in Macedonia and Kosovo, as president of the Albanian nation, this has not happened with the chairman of the opposition in Albania, Edi Rama. During a recent visit to Kosovo, Edi Rama is unpopular, the fact that the perception of public opinion in Kosovo, is that the south, is the area close to Greece, but especially Rama and the Socialist Party, was accused of holding a position filo Greek, against the interests of Greater Albania.